Democratic Republic of Congo: Kamwina Nsapu violence foretells deadly conflict - AKE International

28.7.17

Democratic Republic of Congo: Kamwina Nsapu violence foretells deadly conflict - AKE International: Recent months have seen an escalation of the Kamwina Nsapu (KN) conflict that has devastated the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region since 2016 as President Joseph Kabila pursues a dangerous strategy of fanning violence to consolidate his power. A June report by the country’s Episcopal Conference put the number of casualties from the conflict at nearly 3,400 – far exceeding the UN’s estimate of around 400 victims from April. In July, the UN reported it had identified an additional 38 mass graves, bringing the total to 80 such sites discovered since March. Both sides are accused of summary killings and grave human rights abuses. Most alarmingly, there is strong evidence that the government is behind Bana Mura, a militia that has raped, mutilated, and killed civilians in targeted attacks against members of the Luba and Lulua ethnicities from which KN recruits most of its militants.